PROSE
HIT PIECE A young man, Kyle, who lived in his parent’s basement, was in deep sleep. Around him were four indifferent pastel walls and a cluttered tiled floor. The room was motionless. Knock knock Kyle was pulled out of his sleep, and he became aware of the knocking at the door. Knock knock Eyes still closed and mind not fully awake yet, Kyle reshuffled himself in bed to get comfortable again, hoping to sleep away the noise.
sighed, exhausted from the day’s work, feeling his heavy shoulders heave in his tight suit. Business had not been going so well. He recalled the two dozen phone calls and scores of emails he’d made that went only to deadends and unwilling contacts. Focus. It was not wise to dwell on these things. The man began a brief tidying up of his desk, reshuffling papers. Knock knock “Just one moment,” the man called out. He recalled calling the same damn landlord seven times in anger and desperation. The man took a deep breath. He could not keep these thoughts away. Finally, he made a quick adjustment to realign the name plate that rested on the front of his desk. Its glossy brass finish was unreadable with the light to the back of it, but it read: CEO, Kyle Pii. Knock knock
Knock knock Whoever was at the door was insistent. Kyle hated that. Begrudgingly, he slowly pulled himself out of bed, his mental state beginning to unfreeze as he stood up, and he limped to the door. Before twisting open the lock handle, he paused at the mirror on his door: his baggy faded green shirt, dirty sweatpants, and mess of hair. He shrugged it off and opened the door.
Insistent, Kyle noted. “Come in, the door is unlocked.” The door opened. _______________________ Knock knock Kyle clutched his pistol, an old relic from his father’s collecting obsession. He was shaking more uncontrollably than he expected he would be. He was terrified. He knew what was coming.
_______________________ Knock knock Knock knock Who would be at the office? There had not been any clients for a while. A man sat behind his dark desk. Dim yellow light found its way into the office through the cracks of the window blinds behind the man, casting a faint shadow on his features. The man
35|The penchant||NOV 2021
In the moment, Kyle shuffled around nervously between standing or crouching against the wall with the door. The crouching stance made his chest feel more secure than standing but made his neck feel vulnerable. Knock knock
